97 Fun Facts About Pittsburgh

What three major rivers meet in downtown Pittsburgh?

The Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers converge at Point State Park to form the Ohio River, a unique geographical feature that has shaped Pittsburgh's history and development.

Which nickname reflects Pittsburgh's historical industrial prowess?

The Steel City name dates from Carnegie's Edgar Thomson works, opened at Braddock in 1875, which grew into Carnegie Steel and then U.S. Steel in 1901.

Pittsburgh's hundreds of spans earn it what nickname?

The City of Bridges count edges out Venice, which has historically claimed the same title, by three.

In what year was the area known as Pittsburgh first established as a fort and named?

General John Forbes occupied the burned remains of Fort Duquesne on November 25, 1758 and ordered the construction of Fort Pitt, named after British Secretary of State William Pitt the Elder - the origin of the name Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh was officially incorporated as a city in which year?

Pittsburgh was incorporated as a city on March 18, 1816, having been a borough since April 22, 1794; by then it was already known for its permanent cloud of coal smoke.

Approximately how many bridges are located within the city limits of Pittsburgh?

That is three more than Venice. Around 40 of them cross the three rivers, and Allegheny County as a whole has more than 2,000.

What type of transport, represented by the Duquesne and Monongahela, scales Pittsburgh's steep hillsides?

Both are funiculars, counterweighted cable railways that locals simply call 'inclines'; the Monongahela and Duquesne are the two survivors of more than a dozen once built on the city's slopes.

The meeting point of Pittsburgh's three major rivers is commonly known by what name?

The downtown area of Pittsburgh, where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio River, is famously known as the Golden Triangle.

What primary industry dominated Pittsburgh's economy before the widespread rise of steel manufacturing?

Iron and coal came first: by 1815 the town was turning out iron, brass, tin and glass, and by 1857 its 1,000 factories burned 22 million bushels of coal a year.

Which downtown Pittsburgh area is known for its theaters, galleries and performance venues?

The Cultural District is a 14-block area in downtown Pittsburgh that serves as a vibrant hub for arts and entertainment, featuring numerous theaters and galleries.

Which venue is home to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and a cornerstone of the Cultural District?

Heinz Hall, originally the Loew's Penn Theater, was renovated and dedicated in 1971 and is now the home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, anchoring the Cultural District.

Which Pittsburgh-born artist has his own museum among the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh?

Andy Warhol's museum is the largest in the US dedicated to a single artist; the Carnegie Museums also include art, natural history and the science center.

What is the oldest architectural landmark in Pittsburgh, built in 1764?

Built in 1764, the Fort Pitt Block House is all that survives of Fort Pitt and is the oldest extant structure in Western Pennsylvania - often billed as the oldest authenticated structure west of the Allegheny Mountains.

Which Gothic Revival skyscraper at the University of Pittsburgh is known for its Nationality Rooms?

The Cathedral of Learning rises 42 storeys, the centrepiece of the Schenley Farms Historic District, with classrooms decorated in dozens of national styles.

Pittsburgh's identical Roberto Clemente, Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson bridges share what nickname?

The Three Sisters are near-identical self-anchored suspension bridges over the Allegheny: Clemente at 6th Street, Warhol at 7th and Carson at 9th, all completed between 1924 and 1928.

Kennywood, the Pittsburgh area's classic amusement park, is located in which suburb?

Kennywood lies in West Mifflin, on the Monongahela south-east of the city; a National Historic Landmark since 1987, it keeps wooden coasters such as the 1920 Jack Rabbit.

What unique contemporary art museum in Pittsburgh is known for its site-specific installations?

The Mattress Factory, on the North Side, runs an artist-in-residence program and fills its rooms with site-specific installations.

Which professional sports team in Pittsburgh plays in the NFL?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are the city's celebrated professional American football team, competing in the National Football League (NFL).

Which professional sports team in Pittsburgh plays in Major League Baseball (MLB)?

The Pirates share the city's black-and-gold colours with the Steelers and Penguins. The Condors were an ABA basketball team, the Hornets a minor-league hockey club and the Riverhounds play soccer.

Which professional sports team in Pittsburgh plays in the NHL?

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the city's professional ice hockey team, competing in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Which Hall of Famer, 'The Flying Dutchman', played most of his career for the Pittsburgh Pirates?

Honus Wagner earned the nickname for his speed and German heritage; he played in the very first World Series in 1903 and won the Pirates' first title in 1909.

Which modernist writer, famed for her Paris salon and 'a rose is a rose is a rose', was born near Pittsburgh in 1874?

Gertrude Stein was born in Allegheny, now Pittsburgh's North Side, on February 3, 1874 and left as an infant; her salon at 27 rue de Fleurus hosted Picasso, Matisse and Hemingway.

Rachel Carson, author of 'Silent Spring', was born in 1907 in which Allegheny River town?

Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 1907 on a farm in Springdale, about 15 miles up the Allegheny from Pittsburgh; the Rachel Carson Homestead there is on the National Register.

Which iconic actor and dancer, known for musicals like 'Singin' in the Rain,' was raised in Pittsburgh?

Gene Kelly was born in East Liberty in 1912 and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1933 before co-directing and choreographing 'Singin' in the Rain' with Stanley Donen.

Which steel industrialist and philanthropist established many cultural institutions in Pittsburgh?

Andrew Carnegie arrived from Dunfermline, Scotland at 12 in 1848, began steel production at Braddock in 1875 and later endowed the city's museums, library and a technical school that became a university.

Which children's TV host, known for his 'Neighborhood', made his show at Pittsburgh's WQED?

Fred Rogers was born in nearby Latrobe in 1928 and left NBC in New York in 1953 for WQED, the country's first community-supported public television station.

Which entrepreneur and investor, known from 'Shark Tank,' was born and raised in Pittsburgh?

Mark Cuban grew up in suburban Mt. Lebanon, sold garbage bags door to door at 12 and ran newspapers in from Cleveland during a Post-Gazette strike before his Broadcast.com fortune.

Which Catholic school in Pittsburgh's Bluff neighborhood was long home to the Tamburitzans troupe?

The Tamburitzans performed Eastern European folk music and dance as a Duquesne ensemble from 1937 until spinning off as an independent nonprofit; Carlow is the traditionally women's Catholic university and Chatham went coed in 2015.

Pittsburgh's economy has diversified from its industrial past to focus on which sectors?

Healthcare and education, the 'eds and meds', lead the economy: UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh are the region's largest employers, and Google occupies a converted Nabisco factory at Bakery Square.

What did George Washington do in 1753 at the Allegheny island now called Washington's Landing?

Washington, then 21, fell from a raft into the icy Allegheny and scrambled ashore on what was long Herrs Island, returning in December 1753 from warning the French off the Ohio country.

Which Pittsburgh school's Robotics Institute, founded in 1979, was the world's first robotics department?

Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute, founded in 1979 with a $3 million Westinghouse grant, was the first academic department in the world devoted purely to robotics.

Which Pittsburgh rowhouse neighborhood of revitalized industrial buildings, birthplace of Stephen Foster, borders the Allegheny River?

Lawrenceville is where Stephen Foster was born in 1826; Washington's Landing offshore is named for the island George Washington scrambled onto after falling from a raft in 1753.

Many of Pittsburgh's stand-alone hillside stairways are legally classified as what?

Pittsburgh's stand-alone public stairways are legally streets, carrying street names and map listings; Bob Regan's survey counted more than 700 flights totaling 44,645 treads and 24,090 vertical feet.

The Smithfield Street Bridge over the Monongahela is a rare American example of what bridge type?

Gustav Lindenthal's 1883 Smithfield Street Bridge is a lenticular truss, its lens-shaped spans among the few of the kind surviving in the US; it is one of the country's oldest steel bridges.

What colours did an 1899 ordinance set for Pittsburgh's flag, later adopted by all its major teams?

Black and gold come from the arms of William Pitt, the city's namesake; the Steelers, Pirates (from 1948), Penguins (from 1980) and Riverhounds all wear them.

Which Pittsburgh park, named after an industrialist, is known for its trails and a historic mansion?

Frick Park, the city's largest at about 644 acres, began with land Henry Clay Frick left in 1919; Mac Miller named his 2011 album Blue Slide Park after its playground.

What levelled over a thousand buildings across some twenty-four blocks of downtown Pittsburgh in 1845?

The Great Fire of April 10, 1845 started from a washerwoman's fire near Ferry Street and burned about a third of the city in a few hours; the rebuilding remade downtown.

The Duquesne Incline, a funicular on Mount Washington, was originally powered by what?

The Duquesne Incline, designed by Samuel Diescher and completed in 1877, was originally steam-powered, carrying both cargo and passengers up Mount Washington.

Which Pittsburgh neighborhood on the Allegheny is a produce market by day and clubbing destination by night?

The Strip grew up in the early 20th century as a hub of produce, meat and poultry wholesalers supplied by rail and river; the Heinz History Center stands on Smallman Street there.

The Senator John Heinz History Center is an affiliate of which national museum institution?

The Senator John Heinz History Center is the largest history museum in Pennsylvania and is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.

Which director shot 'Night of the Living Dead' and most of his other films around Pittsburgh?

George A. Romero, born in the Bronx in 1940, came to Pittsburgh for Carnegie Tech and stayed, shooting the 1968 'Night of the Living Dead' around Evans City north of the city.

What historical event in 1758 led to the British taking control of the area and establishing Fort Pitt?

The French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War, began over the forks of the Ohio in 1754; General John Forbes finally took the site in November 1758.

Which Pittsburgh neighborhood houses the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon?

Oakland became Pitt's home after two fires and several relocations; the state legislature gave the school its current name in 1908.

Which Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh houses the Buhl Planetarium and the submarine USS Requin?

Kamin Science Center is the former Carnegie Science Center, renamed in 2024 for donors Daniel and Carole Kamin; the Cold War submarine USS Requin has been moored beside it since 1990.

Which Pittsburgh-born drummer led the Jazz Messengers for decades?

Art Blakey, born in Pittsburgh in 1919, led the Jazz Messengers from the mid-1950s until his death in October 1990 and entered the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1991.

What sandwich, often served with fries and coleslaw inside, is a Pittsburgh staple?

Primanti Bros. started in 1933, piling grilled meat, cheese, oil-and-vinegar slaw, tomato and fries between thick slices of Italian bread.

Which Braddock-born novelist wrote 'Out of This Furnace' about three generations of immigrant steelworkers?

Thomas Bell, born Adalbert Belejcak in Braddock in 1903 to Rusyn immigrants, was largely forgotten until the University of Pittsburgh Press reissued his 1941 novel in 1976.

Which 1763 battle, fought east of Pittsburgh, lifted the siege of Fort Pitt?

Colonel Henry Bouquet's column beat Pontiac's allies at Bushy Run on August 5-6, 1763, in what is now Westmoreland County, then marched on to relieve the besieged Fort Pitt.

How many Super Bowls did Pittsburgh's NFL franchise win between the 1974 and 2008 seasons?

Six: Super Bowls IX, X, XIII and XIV in the 1970s, then XL and XLIII after the 2005 and 2008 seasons; the club is the oldest franchise in the AFC.

With which club did Pittsburgh's NFL team merge for the 1943 season?

The wartime 'Steagles' merger with the Philadelphia Eagles lasted one season, 1943, going 5-4-1; the Pittsburgh club merged with the Chicago Cardinals the next year as 'Card-Pitt'.

Pittsburgh's NFL team is alone in putting its helmet logo where?

Since 1962 the Steelers have worn the logo on the right side only; equipment manager Jack Hart put it there to test how it looked on the gold helmets, and it stayed.

Which Pittsburgh broadcaster invented the Terrible Towel?

Myron Cope, the nasal-voiced Steelers color man, created the towel for a December 1975 playoff game; he was the first pro football announcer in the National Radio Hall of Fame and cried 'yoi'.

The Immaculate Reception beat which team in a December 1972 playoff game?

The Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13-7 at Three Rivers Stadium on December 23, 1972; whether the ball touched Frenchy Fuqua or Jack Tatum first remains disputed.

A 1971 radio contest to name Pittsburgh's NFL defense produced which nickname?

'Steel Curtain', the winning entry in a 1971 WTAE radio contest, plays on Churchill's 'Iron Curtain'; it first meant the defensive line and soon the whole 1970s unit.

Which coach won four Super Bowls in Pittsburgh without ever losing one?

Chuck Noll was the first head coach to win four Super Bowls, IX, X, XIII and XIV, all between the 1974 and 1979 seasons, and he never lost one.

Which Pittsburgh station broadcast the Harding–Cox election returns on November 2, 1920?

KDKA, Westinghouse's East Pittsburgh station, went on air that night under the temporary amateur call sign 8ZZ and was later billed as the first commercial broadcast station in the US.

How many Stanley Cups did Pittsburgh's NHL club win from 1991 through 2017?

Five: 1991, 1992, 2009, 2016 and 2017; the last two made the Penguins the first back-to-back champions of the salary-cap era.

Mario Lemieux is the only man with his name on the Stanley Cup as a player and as what?

He took over the bankrupt franchise in 1999, converting the deferred salary it owed him into equity, and later returned to play for a team he owned.

Sidney Crosby grew up in which Nova Scotia community?

Crosby grew up in Cole Harbour, a Halifax-area community where he opened a hockey school in 2015; in 2009, at 21, he became the youngest captain to lift the Stanley Cup.

Pittsburgh's old Civic Arena was better known by what nickname?

The Civic Arena's retractable stainless-steel dome earned it the 'Igloo' nickname; the NHL team was named partly to suit it, with a penguin in front of a triangle for downtown's Golden Triangle.

A rival official called Pittsburgh's 1891 signing of Lou Bierbauer what?

The Alleghenys grabbed second baseman Lou Bierbauer after the Philadelphia Athletics left him off their reserve list; the 'piratical' jibe stuck and the club became the Pirates.

Who hit the only Game 7 walk-off home run in World Series history, for Pittsburgh in 1960?

Bill Mazeroski's ninth-inning homer off Ralph Terry won Game 7 10-9 on October 13, 1960, even though the Yankees outscored Pittsburgh 55-27 across the Series.

Roberto Clemente died in 1972 flying relief supplies to earthquake victims in which country?

Clemente chartered the DC-7 himself after hearing that earlier shipments to Managua, Nicaragua, were being diverted by corrupt officials; it crashed off Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, on New Year's Eve 1972.

Pittsburgh's 1979 World Series champions adopted which disco hit as their anthem?

Captain Willie Stargell urged the team to adopt Sister Sledge's 'We Are Family', then won MVP of both the NLCS and the World Series, plus a share of the NL MVP.

What happened to Three Rivers Stadium on February 11, 2001?

The stadium was imploded in about 19 seconds before more than 20,000 onlookers at Point State Park and along the rivers; PNC Park rose just east of the site and Heinz Field to the west.

Which company's name replaced Heinz on Pittsburgh's football stadium in 2022?

Acrisure, a Michigan insurance broker, bought the naming rights in July 2022 after Heinz's 21-year deal ended; many locals kept calling it Heinz Field.

Jonas Salk's polio vaccine, developed at Pitt, was declared safe in what year?

Results of the 1954 field trial were announced at the University of Michigan on April 12, 1955, declaring the vaccine safe and effective; Salk had arrived at Pitt's medical school in 1947.

Henry Heinz began packing food in 1869 in which borough up the Allegheny from Pittsburgh?

Heinz & Noble started in Sharpsburg in 1869; it went bankrupt in 1875 after the Panic of 1873, and Henry started over with his brother John and cousin Frederick as F. & J. Heinz.

What was the first product sold under Heinz's original Anchor Brand?

Horseradish came in clear glass jars so buyers could see it was not bulked out with turnip.

In Heinz's '57 Varieties' slogan, 5 was Henry's lucky number and 7 was whose?

Henry picked 57 in 1896 after seeing a '21 styles' shoe ad on a New York elevated train: 5 was his own lucky number and 7 his wife's, though the company already sold more than 60 products.

Strikers at Carnegie's mill fought agents from which detective agency on July 6, 1892?

Henry Clay Frick hired about 300 Pinkerton agents to secure the Homestead plant; they tried to land from barges on the Monongahela and surrendered after a day-long gun battle.

Washington rode at the head of 13,000 militiamen toward Pittsburgh in 1794 to crush what?

The Whiskey Rebellion: western farmers had resisted a federal excise on distilled spirits since 1791; Washington reviewed the militia at Carlisle and Bedford in October 1794 before the force marched on without him.

The Monongahela Incline, the oldest continuously operating US funicular, opened in what year?

It opened on May 28, 1870, designed by Prussian-born engineer John Endres, as the first of Pittsburgh's passenger inclines, and has run continuously since.

Which architect designed PPG Place, downtown Pittsburgh's glass Gothic complex?

Philip Johnson and partner John Burgee clad the 1984 complex in 19,750 pieces of PPG glass and topped it with 231 spires, the tallest 82 feet.

Which architect designed Pittsburgh's Romanesque Allegheny County Courthouse and jail?

H. H. Richardson's Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail, finished in 1888 after his death, is the peak of his Romanesque style; a 'Bridge of Sighs' modeled on Venice's links jail to courthouse.

Mr. Yuk, the green poison-warning face, was created by which hospital in 1971?

Pediatrician Richard Moriarty of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, now UPMC Children's, found kids linked the skull and crossbones with the Pirates, so its Pittsburgh Poison Center launched Mr. Yuk in 1971.

George Westinghouse moved to Pittsburgh in 1868 and developed which railway invention there?

Westinghouse came for cheaper steel to make railroad frogs and patented the air brake in 1869, founding the Westinghouse Air Brake Company; his 1886 electric company went on to champion alternating current.

Playwright August Wilson was born in which neighborhood, the setting of most of his plays?

Wilson was born in the Hill District in 1945 and set nine of his ten Pittsburgh Cycle plays there; his family later moved to mostly white Hazelwood, where bricks were thrown through their window.

Pittsburghese speakers are called 'Yinzers' after their word for what?

'Yinz', from 'you ones', is the dialect's plural you; Western Pennsylvania English also gives the world 'nebby', 'jagoff' and 'redd up'.

Which Pittsburgh Negro league team did Gus Greenlee buy in 1931?

Greenlee, the Hill District numbers boss, bought the Crawfords in 1931, built Greenlee Field for them in 1932 and founded the second Negro National League in 1933.

Which inventor of a famous 1893 Chicago ride ran a metal-inspection firm in Pittsburgh?

George Ferris's G.W.G. Ferris & Co. tested metals for railroads and bridge builders; his Arch Street home on the North Side is a designated Pittsburgh historic structure.

The Big Mac, created by Pittsburgh franchisee Jim Delligatti, debuted in 1967 in which town?

Delligatti's Uniontown restaurant sold the first Big Mac in 1967 for 45 cents; it was designed to compete with the Big Boy, whose local franchisee was Eat'n Park.

Which cabinet post did Pittsburgh banker Andrew Mellon hold from 1921 to 1932?

As Secretary of the Treasury, Mellon served Harding, Coolidge and Hoover through the boom and the crash, then gave his collection to found the National Gallery of Art in 1937.

Tony Dorsett won the 1976 Heisman at Pitt with how many rushing yards, Sugar Bowl included?

Dorsett ran for 1,948 yards in the regular season and 202 more in the Sugar Bowl win over Georgia, 2,150 in all, as Pitt took the national title and he added the Maxwell Award.

In 2021 Pittsburgh International became the world's first airport with its own what?

The microgrid, switched on in July 2021, runs on natural gas from wells on airport land plus nearly 10,000 solar panels; PIT was also the first US airport to let non-flyers past security after 9/11.

Eat'n Park, the Pittsburgh-area diner chain, is famous for which signature baked good?

It arrived in 1986 from Warner's Bakery in Titusville when the chain added bakeries; the first Eat'n Park was a 1949 drive-in on Saw Mill Run Boulevard.

Iron City Brewing and Alcoa introduced what beer-can first in 1962?

Iron City was the first beer sold in Alcoa's snap-top pull-tab can, in 1962; the brewery followed with the first twist-off resealable cap in 1963 and draught beer in a can.

What did the Allegheny Observatory sell to railroads and cities from the 1860s?

Samuel Langley's 'Allegheny Time' service began telegraphing time signals to the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1869, and subscription fees from railroads and cities helped keep the observatory solvent.

Pittsburgh's worst deluge, in March 1936, is remembered by what name?

The St. Patrick's Day Flood crested on March 18, 1936 at 46 feet, 21 feet above flood stage, swamping the Point and the Strip District's St. Stanislaus church.

Pittsburgh's light rail system is known locally by what name?

The T runs as a deep subway downtown and mostly at street level in the South Hills suburbs.

The New York Times called emerging from where 'the best way to enter an American city'?

Leaving the Fort Pitt Tunnel, drivers burst onto the double-deck Fort Pitt Bridge with the whole downtown skyline suddenly ahead; KDKA-TV used the view to open its newscasts.

Pittsburgh-area actor Michael Keaton was born with which surname?

Born Michael John Douglas in 1951, he grew up around Coraopolis and Robinson Township, the youngest of seven, and took 'Keaton' because Michael Douglas was already an actors' union name.

Which Pittsburgh rapper topped the Hot 100 with 'Black and Yellow'?

Wiz Khalifa's 2010 single, his first for Atlantic, earned two Grammy nominations.

A 'Pittsburgh toilet' is a bare flush toilet found in which part of a house?

The basement toilet let steelworkers clean up before coming upstairs; the fixtures usually stand beside a laundry sink with no walls at all.

At the 2020 census, Pittsburgh's population was closest to what figure?

The 2020 count was 302,971, about 300,000, which keeps Pittsburgh as Pennsylvania's second-largest city; its metro area is the largest in Appalachia.

Writer James Parton famously described 1868 Pittsburgh as what?

Parton wrote in the Atlantic Monthly in 1868 that Pittsburgh by night looked like 'hell with the lid taken off'; the phrase stuck until the post-war Renaissance cleared the coal smoke.

From 1891 to 1911 the federal government spelled the city's name how?

The US Board on Geographic Names decreed 'Pittsburg' in 1891; city officials and most locals kept the 'h', and a 1911 ruling restored it.